Baby Steps
by mwendyr
Summary: Alex is taking it step by step, both her partnership with Bobby and her newfound relationship with Mike. ITWSH spoilers.


This is a sequel to Morning Meetings, Evening Encounters and Hopelessly Addicted, as part of my Mike/Alex series.

A/N Also Fire Safety has been updated but once again it's not been pulled forward to the top of the page, I have no idea why it's doing that. It's strange.

Summary: Alex is taking things step by step both in her partnership with Bobby and her newfound relationship with Mike.

Spoilers: Since this series is set in S5 and sometime after In the Wee Small Hours, please consider this a spoiler warning since that episode is heavily mentioned here.

**Baby Steps**

Robert Goren looked at his partner, Alex Eames, shakily. Watching her as he felt his resolve crumble and his argument losing it's weight against her small size. Alex, who was standing her ground as much as he was, she was refusing to be beaten back. Bobby couldn't believe she was refusing to listen to his reasoning behind his argument. He'd presented it logically and he couldn't understand why she was still adamant that she was right. The case that they had been given seemed to be a quick solve case in her book but not his. The young woman had been found dead in an alleyway, the lead singer of the Mayor's favourite band and very much a millionaire. Alex believed that it was suicide and Bobby believed that she was murdered.

They had already had a lengthy discussion with Captain Deakins about the subject and he had forced them into an interrogation room to deal with the situation. It had seemed that ever since the Judge Garrett incident neither of them could find a solid ground on which to stand when it concerned their partnership. Deakins was starting to lose his cool with the two lead detectives and was threatening to put them into lock-up if they didn't deal with the problem themselves.

So, here they were, in the interrogation room, standing face-to-face, not saying a word. Thousands of emotions playing across their faces. More so on Bobby than there were on Alex, simply because she was hiding hers better. When she finally spoke she was quiet but sharp and her tone of voice almost deadly as she seemed to be scowling at him, "How dare you argue about this in front of the Captain? I would never say anything like that in front of him and you know it."

"Ea..." Bobby opened his mouth and he actually managed to get a portion of her name out, sound wise anyway (his mouth still continuing the motion of saying her name), before Alex had held up her hand to stop him from speaking.

"Don't! You've had your say, now it's mine." She eyed him, her voice dangerously low and for once Bobby didn't dare speak. "I know that I hurt you with that letter and maybe, just maybe, I could've apologised more for it." Bobby opened his mouth to argue but her hand was back up in record time, "You need to listen to me." Her voice level raised an octave to shut him up and then she watched him as he pulled up a chair, showing his willingness to listen to her. "Good." She sighed and her tone softened a little as she made sure she had eye contact with her partner. "You don't need to prove anything to me, you don't need to try to make it so that the words in that letter mean nothing, that you're not those things. I know you're not. But, seriously, Bobby, come on! Do you really think arguing with me is going to help?"

Bobby, wisely, chose not to answer deciding that the question was rhetorical. "Bobby, please I know that you think you're right but you're not exactly thinking clearly. You need to pull back and actually listen to me for once! Can't you do that?" No answer, "Well?"

"Eames, I do - I do listen to you." He spoke quietly and seemed to be somewhat cautious of what to say to her, afraid he'll actually pull the pin from the grenade that's been threatening drop for the past couple of months. "I..." pause "Eames, I know that I'm right!"

"Excuse me? I take it that my theory doesn't fit into your profile?" Too late, the tone of her voice told him that he'd not only pulled the pin, he'd damn well swollowed it whole. His lack of response was taken as an answer and she shook her head in anger. "Well, I guess we've got a problem!" She turned, hot on her heels and slammed the door shut behind her. The one-way mirror shaking in the wake of her anger.

Bobby rubbed his face in remorse as he realised just how upset she really was and that it truly was his fault. When he could no longer hold his frustration in, he slammed his hand on the table. Hard. Causing it to sting at every point that had made contact with the table. Pulling himself off the chair he walked out of the room, his shoulders far forward and his body aching, he found the room that held all the evidence of their case and reviewed them. He needed to prove to her that he was right. She was his best friend and he'd let her down somehow and he needed desperately to right that wrong.

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Taking a couple of deep breaths, Alex Eames tried to control herself. She was leaning against the wall outside of the 1PP building. It was extremely cold out and she had not even bothered to grab her coat as she'd stormed out of the bullpen and out of the squad room altogether. She leaned her head against the the cold brick wall and took another deep breath. She shivered as the cold finally hit her but she refused to go back inside that building, not in the state of mind she was in. She hadn't meant to lose her temper with him but he could be so infuriating sometimes and although she could understand where he was coming from, he just didn't seem to be seeing her point of view. She thought that they were partners, unbreakable partners and now ever since that _damned _letter had been brought out on the witness stand it seemed they were anything but unbreakable. In fact, they were explosive with each other, more than breakable, they were fragile and today had been the day when the pot simply smashed into a thousand pieces.

She was so consumed in her thoughts, so busy berating herself that she didn't notice anyone beside her until there was a coat in front of her face, being held up by the hook, on the index finger of Mike Logan. "Here. You're cold." She didn't argue and she just took her coat from his finger and pulled it on. He stood beside her, following her lead by leaning against the wall.

"You heard." It wasn't a question, it was merely a statement.

"The whole squad heard." He told her, holding back a grin. "Remind me never to do verbal battle with you." ths time the grin was not held back and as he watched her try to fight a smile, he saw the cracks of one appear through but she managed to keep it back. "Want to tell me what happened?"

"I thought everyone heard?" She finally looked at him, her skin looked pale but her cheeks were pink from the cold air.

"Well, yes, I don't mean the argument, I mean with you and Goren."

"I don't know. I - it seems that we can't agree on anything anymore. I can't tell if he thinks he's lost my trust or I've lost his or... I just - I don't know." She was visually shivering and Mike looked at her, deciding whether he should take the course of action that his brain was telling him to do. Ignoring any doubts he pulled her into a hug, if only to give her his body heat.

He was mildly surprised when she didn't fight him, she just put her arms around his torso and held him to her, accepting his body heat with gratitude. They remained silent for a moment before she finally spoke again. "How do I convince him that what was written in that letter doesn't mean anything to me now?" she paused, breathing deeply. "I barely meant it then. I was angry and frustrated at that the time and I know they're not excuses but ..."

"They sound like good excuses to me." Logan said, quietly after she paused for a significant amount of time. It was then that she realised she was really hugging him, and it suddenly dawned on her that this was the first time they'd crossed any physical distance since they'd begun dating... well, does one date really count as dating? She looked up at him, pulling her face away from his chest to get a better view of his face. He sensed what she was doing and pulled back a little but didn't remove his hands from her back. "Listen, this is what I think you should do. You should go back in there, and try to resolve the case if nothing else. And then you should do that 'margherita' thing you guys do when you solve cases. I know you haven't done that in a while." She looked ready to protest when he carried on, cutting off any arguments she was about to make instead. "If you want, I'll get Barek to come and we could have a double date." He suggestively wriggled his eyebrows at her, earning a smile from her.

"Mike Logan? Are you trying to cheer me up?" She asked, her voice becoming more level and showing some signs of humor.

"Yes and I can see that it's working." She finally laughed and he pulled her back into him and he held for another moment before pulling away fully. When he did she felt the cold air hit her again and suddenly wished he hadn't let her go. "I'm not kidding about going back in there. I think Deakins is going to blow if you don't go back." His tone somewhat serious and it seemed to do the trick, it forced her into action and she grabbed his arm and pulled him behind her - dragging Mike back into the building as well.

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Alex watched him slumped over piles of papers and thousands of folders. His mind so far into his task that he was dead set on completing that he never noticed her come into the room. As a matter of fact, he didn't even notice her sit down in the chair opposite his, or at least that's what it looked like to her. She watched him writing something, she couldn't see what exactly but it seemed to be important to him so she allowed him to finish.

Bobby finally felt like someone was in the room and he looked up to see his partner sitting in the once vacant chair, eyeing him with curiosity. "What have you got?" she asked, and watched as he looked as his papers and back at her. He didn't seem like he wanted to answer as he was reluctant to cause another shouting match.

"Do you really want to know?" He asked her, as if he needed to be convinced of her curiosity. She didn't verbally answer she just gave him a reassuring smile and nodded slightly. "Well... uh, you - you were right." He watched as her face fell in shock and he couldn't help but feel somewhat satisfied that he caused her to stop dead in her tracks. "It - it was a suicide. I re-read everything, all of the interview notes and the ME's report just got here. It seems that..." he paused, watching her carefully, "that I owe you an apology and your instinct was dead on." He waved his hand with the last point, flat line, holding it there, making his point physical in that way that only he seemed to do.

"No, no you don't." She spoke quietly. "I owe you one. I shouldn't have said some of the things that I said."

"It's okay, I - I understand, when people are angry they say things that they don't mean, just, just to upset the person they're angry at." He told her, fact-like in his delivery and she shook her head to show her disagreement.

"No, I did mean what I said - I just shouldn't have said it there and then, in the heat of the moment like that." He seemed to be visible shaken by her words and momentarily taken back and forced into silence. Speechless, as he hadn't expected her to be blunt like that. "What I mean Bobby is that you really don't need to try to prove anything to me, if anything I should be proving things to you." He looked at her with curiosity and she looked down at the table where her hands were clasped together. "I - I need to show that what was written in that letter doesn't have any reference to the way I think about you now. And if I have to spend a week, a month, a year trying show that to you - I will." She seemed set in her determination and he smiled at her shaking his head.

"Y-you don't need to do that, Eames. Although I appreciate the effort you're-" he paused again, "willing to make." She smiled at him, a full bright smile and for the first time since the letter had been pulled out of hiding both of them felt that they really were going to be okay, that the partnership had survived the harshness of her words five years ago and the cruel way that it had been delivered to them in the present.

"Look, when I was outside Mike had a great idea. Why don't we all go out and have margherita's the way that we used to?" She suggested, watching and waiting for an answer. She knew this wasn't going to be fixed in five minutes.

"Like old times?" he asked and she nodded. "Eames, Logan never came with us on those nights." he logically reminded her.

Alex seemed to be considering that "Oh? Really?" He nodded in reply, then she just shrugged, "Yeah well, he is tonight." she stood up quickly and fled the room before he could question her any further. He watched her retreating back to her desk and began filing some paperwork to close up the case. He shrugged it off as Alex doing what she did best, pulling his leg, making a remark, making him think about any other than work to pull him back into reality.

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He was laughing so hard he thought he was going to explode. The laughter was sending a thousand ripples through his stomach and giving some serious stitch in his sides, making him feel like he was splitting in two. The story that Mike Logan was telling them whilst they sipped on margheritas and nibbled on peanuts and chips was one of the most hilarious 'cop' stories he had ever heard. Bobby couldn't remember the last time he had this much fun. He was glad that Alex had suggested that they do this.

Even Carolyn Barek was laughing as much as he was, and he'd barely seen her crack a smile whenever he'd been in the room. Bobby figured it was because she'd heard rumors about him that made her weary. Most did. But the way she was acting towards them and him was showing him that she definitely didn't regard those rumors in truth.

Alex was paying special attention to Mike. Throughout the entire time they'd been sitting in the booth, they had not taken their eyes off of each other, except for when they were talking to someone else but considering how long Mike had been explaining his story (and telling it with great timing and humor) that Bobby and Carolyn had barely had time to say much at all. It was very similar to that time in the squad room, when she seemed to be distracted all day and was looking in the general direction of Mike's desk.

"I can't believe that you did that!" Alex said, still laughing, not daring to take a sip of her drink for she thought she might spit it back out when the punchline to the story came.

"Rogers is right, you _are _a pig!" Carolyn said, joking with a smile on her face to tell him as much. He didn't seem phased by it either way. He just grinned and took a sip of his drink. Alex laughed at her comment and grabbed a handful of peanuts.

"I think you should cut Mike some slack." Bobby told them, watching his male friend when he showed his gratitude by nodding his head and raising his glass.

"Thanks, buddy!"

"That couldn't have been easy what he had to do." Bobby continued. "I couldn't have done it."

"_You_ couldn't have done that?" Alex asked, incredulously. She seemed to be surprise by his admission. Bobby shook his head in response and watched as a grin broke out on her face. "Mike, you've got one up on him." Mike raised his glass again.

"I propose a toast for getting 'one up' on the resident genius." They all raised their glasses and they clinked at contact. Each taking a good sized gulp of their drinks before placing them back on the table.

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They each agreed that they all had had a great time and should do it again sometime. If not just to keep them all sane but to ensure that they at least remain on good terms. Mike had said goodbye to them all before he left, but he didn't really know how to say goodbye to Alex with everyone there watching him. He was regretting the way he had just winked at her and left. He was considering going back but he'd look like an ass, especially as they were all leaving, and he didn't want to look like an ass.

"Mike!" He turned around slowly, hearing his name and recognising the voice he was suddenly thanking his lucky stars - wherever they were he needed to thank them. When he had completely turned around, he could see that she was freezing, holding her scarf around her neck, but then, so was he and the cold weather was biting at a late hour such as this. He smiled at her and she walked over towards him and when she was about a metre away from him she tossed her head to one side and smile again. "Is there a sequel to Jurassic Park?"

He smiled at the way that Alex was inviting herself back to watch another movie with him. He held out his hand to her and she took it with a soft smile on her face. He smiled back and led her to the subway in peaceful silence. Neither feeling the need to speak, just grateful for the company of the other.

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_Finished, for now! _

_The story that Mike was telling is left uo to your imaginations and I did that on purpose since I know that you guys have got some vivid imaginations. _

Thank you to those that left a review of the other stories in this series, your kind words are inspirational and they have motivated me to continue. Although I have to say that putting out M/A stories to a place where B/A seems to be a major popularity is like stepping out into the world utterly naked.

But I'm sure that I'll find my clothes soon.


End file.
